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An Open Letter to Santa Clara Vanguard


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:satisfied::smile::w00t: Thank you SCV! :smile::w00t::w00t:

I absolutely loved this show. I drove from London ON to Columbus OH, Buffalo NY, and Toledo OH, before seeing the final three performances in Indianapolis and I wish I could have seen it so many more times than that. I love this direction and hope the Vanguard are able to pursue it for many years to come. Again, thank you so much SCV for a wonderful show. :wub:

simply elegant.

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THANK YOU SCV!!!

Beautiful artistic show; elegant and classy like the corps itself! :unhappy::thumbup::worthy:

My favorite show of the year!

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Three guesses as to who did it before Garfield (and your first two don't count). I know you know this, so it's a rhetorical question. But it does bother me that so many people seem to be citing Garfield '87 as the first time "Appalachian Spring" was performed on the field. Interesting trivia question: Which corps/year was the first to perform "Appalachian Spring"? I know the answer -- at least, the answer according to corspreps.com -- but does anyone else know?

As for Garfield doing it better, or being more emotional, I guess that's very subjective. Certainly, Garfield "drum corpsed up" the arrangements, but IMO, Santa Clara was truer to the original composition. I love both shows, for different reasons.

It was the Vanguard but the Des Plaines Vanguard (in 1968?). I just remember the same company front coming forward which looked great back then (also in red uniforms), just as it was done this year - Must be a Vanguard thing!

:unhappy:

Edited by amadorj
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It was the Vanguard but the Des Plaines Vanguard (in 1968?). I just remember the same company front coming forward which looked great back then as it did this year - Must be a Vanguard thing!

:unhappy:

We have a winnah!

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We have a winnah!

Clearly, show designers are using the same tunes, over and over again.

Altogether, I count 53 separate instances of corps using Appalachian Spring. This includes 34 instances by junior corps alone - 3 in the past 2 years. One could argue that it has been overused. Copland's masterpiece is great - but we are in danger of making it cliche and monotonous.

Indeed it is probably time for us to put a moratorium on Copland's signature work. Similarly, since West Side Story was used by 3 WC finalists this year; we probably need a moratorium on it as well. According to corpsreps, it has been used 392 times. :thumbup: I am sure Leonard is flattered, but come on?

Rhapsody in Blue has also been badly overused - 33 times, according to corpsreps. Gershwin would not have approved. It also needs to go on moratorium status as well. Pictures At An Exhibition? 73 uses, according to corpsreps. Mussorgsky himself is probably getting tired of hearing his own work.

Here's a suggestion to show designers: stop using the same material, over and over again. More to the point, stop borrowing materials from each other, over and over again. Come up with some new and challenging musical selections - that is what you are paid to do!

Maybe DCI should implement a rule: after piece of music X is used in competition, it cannot be used again for another 5 years.

Why does this matter? Why should any of us care? In the 1980's, I went to a marching band contest, where Pictures at an Exhibition was performed by 8 straight competitors! It was ridiculous! People were groaning by the time the last rendition was played. I don't want to see drum corps descend into that; we have enough problems.

Now I will get off my :unhappy:

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Indeed it is probably time for us to put a moratorium on Copland's signature work.

So what would your quota be? 30? If that were the case, then we might well have been deprived of two of the greatest interpretations of that piece ever put on the field ('87 Garfield and '09 Santa Clara). So, you may feel it's repetitious, and it certainly has been repeated a fair bit. And sure, when several different junior corps played "Children of Sanchez" in '79, many of us did groan. But to say that from this point forward, no corps can ever perform "Appalachian Spring" (or no one can play it for X number of years, or whatever) deprives us all of the possibility of the same kind of magic that Santa Clara produced this year. :unhappy:

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(snip) The show was built to be enjoyed, not deciphered.

Probably the best quote I've seen regarding this show all season. :unhappy:

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And sure, when several different junior corps played "Children of Sanchez" in '79, many of us did groan.

That is precisely what I am afraid of. BD used Rhapsody in Blue for their closer this year; what if 5 outfits do the same next year? Or they use "Happy Days are Here Again", or any other component of the BD show? What portion of this year's show will the designers simply regurgitate?

I know how show designers think. I can hear the gears grinding away in their heads. "BD won this year with Rhapsody in Blue, so if I use it in next year's show, my corps will win! Then I can charge higher fees for the 2011 show! If I keep doing the same thing over and over - like a gerbil on a treadmill - I will eventually get the result I want."

This year's SCV show was great, and one of my favorites. I certainly preferred it to some other shows I heard performed as LOS last Saturday. But do I want to hear 5 or 6 mediocre renditions of Appalachian Spring next year at LOS? No. Could that happen? Yes. Why? Because show designers today are lemmings. They will take us over the cliff with them.

I stick behind my idea of a moratorium.

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That is precisely what I am afraid of. BD used Rhapsody in Blue for their closer this year; what if 5 outfits do the same next year? Or they use "Happy Days are Here Again", or any other component of the BD show? What portion of this year's show will the designers simply regurgitate?

I know how show designers think. I can hear the gears grinding away in their heads. "BD won this year with Rhapsody in Blue, so if I use it in next year's show, my corps will win! Then I can charge higher fees for the 2011 show! If I keep doing the same thing over and over - like a gerbil on a treadmill - I will eventually get the result I want."

This year's SCV show was great, and one of my favorites. I certainly preferred it to some other shows I heard performed as LOS last Saturday. But do I want to hear 5 or 6 mediocre renditions of Appalachian Spring next year at LOS? No. Could that happen? Yes. Why? Because show designers today are lemmings. They will take us over the cliff with them.

I stick behind my idea of a moratorium.

Wow.

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That is precisely what I am afraid of. BD used Rhapsody in Blue for their closer this year; what if 5 outfits do the same next year? Or they use "Happy Days are Here Again", or any other component of the BD show? What portion of this year's show will the designers simply regurgitate?

I know how show designers think. I can hear the gears grinding away in their heads. "BD won this year with Rhapsody in Blue, so if I use it in next year's show, my corps will win! Then I can charge higher fees for the 2011 show! If I keep doing the same thing over and over - like a gerbil on a treadmill - I will eventually get the result I want."

This year's SCV show was great, and one of my favorites. I certainly preferred it to some other shows I heard performed as LOS last Saturday. But do I want to hear 5 or 6 mediocre renditions of Appalachian Spring next year at LOS? No. Could that happen? Yes. Why? Because show designers today are lemmings. They will take us over the cliff with them.

I stick behind my idea of a moratorium.

Yikes! What's it like in there with Key Poulan or Mark Sylvester? :unhappy:

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